Friday, May 31 Pender Harbour to Princess Louisa 47 miles 5 hours

Today we enter Princess Louisa Inlet via Malibu Rapids.  Again we have to plan our journey based upon slack water at a narrow passage.  We have a rainy and cloudy day to travel.  It is nice not having the bright sun reflect in the window.  We will be heading up four large waterways that do not have any safe anchorages along the way.  Agamemnon Channel, Prince of Wales Reach, Princess Royal Reach and finally Queen’s Reach.  We never saw another boat until we reached the entrance to Malibu Rapids.  Three of us are going in this morning.  We passed through at 10 minutes before slack and had practically no turbulence.  Current can run up to 9 kts which would be very dangerous in the narrow, dog-legged passage.  No matter the weather, this is an awe inspiring inlet.  According the Waggoner, this 4 mile long inlet is the “holy grail” for cruising people from all over the world.  Entering Princess Louisa Inlet is like entering a great cathedral.  The author Earle Stanley Gardner wrote that no one could see Princess Louisa Inlet and remain an atheist. As you enter the head of the inlet you are surrounded by mile-high mountains that drop almost to 500 ft vertically.  There is an 895 ft dock and paths that lead to Chatterbox Falls and a rocky beach.  The max boat length that can stay on the dock is 55 ft and we are 57 ft.  We don’t want to annoy anyone so we anchored out directly in front of the falls.  What a magnificent view!  The outflowing freshwater surface current is strong enough to keep the boat from swinging into the shallows at low tide.  Poor us…

Thursday, May 30 Pender Harbour

We put the dinghy down and went over to Madeira Park.  Of course we had a latte and did a little grocery shopping.

Wednesday May 29 Nanaimo to Pender Harbour - 37 miles, 3 ½ hours

The winds have died down but it is still a cool, wet day.  Whiskey Gulf is not “active”.  Whiskey Gulf which lies directly in the middle of a straight passage to our destination is a deep-water range operated by the Canadian and U.S. navies.  It is used to test torpedoes (unarmed) and various ship systems. This will save us about an hour of travel time to make a direct route to Pender Harbour.  It was a comfortable trip across the Straight with 10-15 mph winds and only 1 ft. chop.  We anchored in Pender Harbour between Madeira Park and Hospital Cove.

Tuesday, May 28 Nanaimo

We were planning on heading across the Straight of Georgia today but the weather remains rainy with 20-30 kt winds.  There are even whitecaps in the harbor.  We went to the Nanaimo Museum http://www.nanaimomuseum.ca/ for the first time.  http://nanaimomuseum.ca/index.php?p=1_8_Exhibits

It is only about 2 blocks from the marina but we have never walked up there.  The museum only charged $2 each and was very informative.  Nanaimo has had a very diverse history of logging with a pulp mill still operating here, fishing and even coal mining.  They also had a section on the First Nations people who were her first.  After visiting the museum and gift shop we wander down the street in “old Town”.  There were many ethnic restaurants and interesting shops.  Of course we ended our activities with a latte looking out at the marina.  On the way back to the boat one of the resident bunny’s was eating out on the lawn.  He must be very used to people being around because he posed for some photos for me.  

History of Nanaimo Bars

Latte with style

Monday, May 27 Nanaimo

Our big activity today was going to the Medical Arts Center clinic which is located a block from the marina.  The arthritis in my knee was acting up and I needed a prescription refill.  They provide a wonderful service for the locals and transients like us. 

Sunday, May 26 Montague Harbour to Nanaimo 31 miles 2 3/4 hours

We had to time our travel today to get through Dodd Narrows at slack water.  This is the first of many spots in the Inside Passage where travel is only safe at slack tide.  The current gets up to about 8 kts here which can send a vessel up onto the rocks.  As it was we followed a sailboat through.  We were about 10 minutes to slack and he jumped in first.  Bad decision.  Most sailboats are not very fast on a good day and the current was still 2-3 kts against us.  The net result was that he was traveling about 3 kts.  That is on the slow side for us to keep water flowing under the rudders and allow us good control.  The consensus of opinion is that he was a rookie. We docked at Cameron Island  with a lovely view of the city front.  Of course it is raining and windy but at least the wind helped to push us onto the dock.  

Emerald Star with the kayaks on the bow

Saturday, May 25 Montague Harbour

This is a favorite stop of ours because they have a huge interesting beach.  One of the reasons we gave Merlin his “summer” cut was so that he can get wet and muddy and be easily cleaned up.  The tide was very low when we arrived at the beach and a large number of starfish were out in the open.  In this are the starfish are bright purple and dark shades of pink.  Pretty amazing to see.  We saw about 12 boats come in with banners flying and raft into a circle.  Later we saw all the dinghy’s rafted together and meandering by.  I think it was at cocktail time. 

Friday, May 24 Poet's Cove to Montague Harbour 1.5 hrs 13.7 miles

We woke up to beautiful sunny skies and about 15 mph winds.  It was a lovely but short cruise up Swanson Channel to Galiano Island and anchored in Montague Harbour.  There are about 30 boats at anchor here but it is a huge anchorage and no one is crowded.  The sunset was beautiful.